New Haven, Conn., Aug 5, 2005 / 12:00 am (CNA).- The largest international lay Catholic organization, the Knights of Columbus, has adopted two resolutions that affirm Roe v. Wade as bad constitutional law and that call for fair hearings on the Supreme Court nomination of John Roberts.

The first resolution states that the Knights “will never consider Roe v. Wade to be settled constitutional law.”

It recalls that the 1973 decision "was accurately described by Justice Byron White as an exercise of 'raw judicial power.'" Legal scholars, as well, have said the decision was based on "multiple and profound misapprehensions of law and history” and it is "bad constitutional law," the resolution points out.

It also "condemn[s] any use of a pro-Roe litmus test by members of the U.S. Senate when considering nominees for the federal courts, especially the Supreme Court.”

It calls on Catholic senators to “cease and desist from opposing, directly or indirectly, the teaching of the Catholic Church on the inviolability of innocent human life."

The Knights’ second resolution urges the U.S. Senate to “conduct prompt, fair and expeditious hearings” on the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court, "to consider his nomination without delay or filibuster, and to allow him an up-or-down vote on his confirmation."

All U.S. Knights are urged to contact their senators asking them to support an up-or-down vote.

It also states that the Knights of Columbus "strongly condemn[s] any effort to block or impede his confirmation based upon his position on whether Roe v. Wade should be reconsidered."

During his annual address Tuesday, Supreme Knight Carl Anderson said that in Roe v. Wade, "the Supreme Court created out of whole cloth a 'right' to extinguish the life of an innocent unborn child. And in the process, it seized for itself a power that no one has a right to exercise."

The Knights adopted these resolutions yesterday at their 123rd annual convention.